United Nations Development Programme

Sustainable Energy for All - Global Tracking Framework

28 May 2013

Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) seeks to achieve, by 2030, universal access to electricity and safe household fuels, a doubled rate of improvement of energy efficiency, and a doubled share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. As the Millennium Development Goals process has shown, measurable goals that enjoy widespread consensus can mobilize whole societies behind them. An issue for any set of goals is how to measure progress towards their achievement. This can be tricky on methodological and political grounds. In light of this challenge, the rigor and even-handedness evident in this first SE4ALL Global Tracking Framework is all the more welcome.

The Global Tracking Framework described in this report provides an initial system for regular global reporting based on indicators that are both technically rigorous and feasible to compute from current global energy databases, and that offer scope for progressive improvement over time. Although the identification of suitable indicators required for the framework posed significant methodological challenges, those challenges were no more complex than those faced when attempting to measure other aspects of development—such as poverty, human health, or access to clean water and sanitation —where global progress has long been tracked. In all these aspects of development, a sustained effort of building analytical capability and data capacity has been
required across most countries.